Plight of the Producers in Punjab

We all know that it’s the farmers who produce food for all the
people. But the irony is that most of the farmers themselves are
deprived of food security in many parts of the world. Now let us
look at the problems faced by the farmers in the Sangrur district
of Punjab which is proudly called as the “Farming heartland of
India.” This is a very complex problem, as about 2000 farmers
killed themselves in the state of Punjab due to the following
reasons:

1. Increasing cost of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and
pesticides;

2. Decreasing amount of public investment and subsidies on
agriculture;

3. Inability to get cheap formal credit- due to lack of
collateral;

4. Unstable markets and constant fluctuation of prices – during
January 2012, most of the farmers in the Sangrur district of
Punjab decided to let the potatoes rot in their fields, as the
prices of potatoes were so low that even the cost of harvesting
them would be much more than the income that they would get out
of its sale;

5. Overpopulation in the agricultural sector which led to
disguised unemployment, and

6. Psychological causes like stress and depression due to various
reasons such as stagnant agricultural growth, pressure from money
lenders, caste discrimination and inequality, etc.

It is alarming to know that, due to all these issues, the farmers
went to the extent of deciding to end their own lives. So the
children of these victims were forced into bonded labour and
could not be educated. Women of these victims' families had to do
odd jobs to sustain the livelihood of their families. What can
be done to solve this problem of farmers' suicides and to ensure
food security to the families of those farmers?